SDU Short Story

‘Xiang Yeow,’ my elder brother said suddenly in a monotone. It was three days after my birthday party and my brother was lying on my bed.

‘What?’

‘Xiang Yeow.’

‘What? Stop trying to irritate me. It won’t work.’ I began to update my blog.

‘Do you think that Li Ping is pretty?’ The wheat biscuit that I was nibbling fell onto the ground, breaking into crumbs.

Now, I have always thought that Li Ping is a good friend. Won’t lose her temper. Miss Sunshine. Always ready to lend a helping hand. For some unfathomable reason, Li Ping never had a boyfriend before. Then and there, I decided that this good friend have the potential to become an even better sister-in-law.

‘Why don’t you sms her?’ I took my brother’s phone and quickly keyed in Li Ping’s number before continuing to blog.

‘Xiang Yeow.’

‘What?’

‘Can you check through my sms for me? See if there’s any spelling error.’ I glowered at my brother. ‘Come on, I’ll buy you supper.’

I scanned through the sms. Too old-fashioned. No one writes like that any more. In a falsetto, I began to read the message aloud. ‘Hi, Li Ping, I am Xiang Yeow’s brother. Would you like to go for a cup of coffee together?’ My elder brother blushed. ‘You sure took a long time to write this. Let me edit it for you.’

I triumphantly showed the edited message to my brother.

‘Are you sure? Do you -’

‘Yes, I am very sure. Don’t worry, trust my judgment. I bet you twenty dollars that she’ll be flattered.’ I send the message into a great unknown.

The next day, Li Ping was blushing furiously when I saw her in the lecture theatre.

‘Your make-up seems rather thick today.’ I deviously suggested.

‘What? Is it really?’ Li Ping quickly took out a piece of wet tissue and began to rub it against her face in a gentle circular motion. Instead of becoming more beige, her face was turning redder.

‘What happened?’

‘Don’t laugh.’ With a sudden motion, she shoved her iPhone at me, blushing furiously.

Dear Li Ping, the sparkle in your ember eyes is brighter than that of any diamond. You have a nicer voice than any canary. I’m intrigued- Sorry, I’m rambling. I just hope that, you know, we can get together for coffee one day or something…

I stifled my laughter when I saw the familiar message.

‘So, how are you going to reply?’ I asked innocently, trying mightily to contain my mirth.

‘I don’t know,’ she rambled, ‘he might turn out to be some psychopath or something…’

‘And if he is not a psychopath?’

‘I don’t know…And how would you know whether he’s a psychopath or not? It’s an unknown number.’ She tried to silence me with a question, thinking that I would not be able to answer.